Independence Day, Baldwin, NY July 4,2014

I enjoyed a wonderful Independence Day with my daughter, Joyce and her family. This morning after a very restful night we had a excellent breakfast with my grandson Charles, Colleen his wife and great grand daughter Cassidy Marie. also my grandson Bryan and his wife Jana and their two children, my great grandson Dylan Jacob and great granddaughter Macie Corinne came for breakfast. Later My granddaughter Parisa and her husband Daniel who live in New York City took the train out to Long Island and spent the afternoon with us and we all enjoyed burgers, hot dogs, chicken and a delicious banana pudding that Joyce made. Then we topped that off by watching some of the world cup play and baseball.  Since Joyce, Lisa and I plan to start heading for Boston, Ma. early in the morning everyone is in bed and I am still up working on this posting. I watched TV for a while waiting for the Macy's fireworks to start, they did not, so I came to bed to work on this posting.  I guess they were waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to show up good.

As I reflect on Independence Day I am filled with awe, wonder and emotions and thankful to God for more things than I can enumerate. First and foremost I am thankful for God sending his son Jesus to this earth to live a sinless life  and die on a cross shedding his precious blood and making a way, the only way, for humanity to be redeemed to live forever in Heaven with Him. I am thankful for God's direction to our nation's founding fathers in setting up our nation with laws and privileges to live and worship as we want to. I am thankful for the men and women who have fought war after war to secure and make sure we can continue to realize and enjoy these freedoms. Also, I am equally thankful for our dedicated military men and women who have fought in battles and have been severely injured. I pray that we will support them in a manner that lets them know that their sacrifice was not in vain. Then there are the millions of military who have served. in any capacity without harm and of course there are the dedicated wives and husbands of the men and women in the military service who stay behind leading lonesome and worry some lives taking care of the home front and families while they await the return of their loved ones. I appreciate all of them and salute them.

Happy birthday America and remember what I always say God loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill

Indulge me a moment so I can act like and truly be a proud great grand father to three precious little ones which I dearly love. I also thank God for allowing me to live long enough to see them.

Macie Corinne and Dylan Jacob

Cassidy Marie